Observant
by jokerwho
Summary: Students can sometimes be very observant, especially the quiet ones.


**Observant**

Alice Thompson could be considered one of Clara's best and well behaved students. Unlike "disruptive influence" as the Doctor would call Courtney Woods, Alice was shy. She always kept things to herself and only talked when necessary.

However, one does not simply underestimate these students for they are always the ones who are observant, able to see and spot things other people dismiss.

Alice could easily see that the school caretaker, Mr Smith, was smitten with Miss Oswald. While other people were busy gossiping about Miss Oswald and Mr Pink, she saw an even bigger picture.

Subtle things like how Mr Smith would walk into Miss Oswald's classroom, thinking no one was looking and cleaning up her desk and bringing her teacher a snack or coffee during lunch.

There was a time Alice was tempted to ask the caretaker if he was in love with Miss Oswald but she had never seen a man with such expressive and sometimes, terrifying eyebrows before and so, she said nothing, continuing to observe.

Miss Oswald, on the other hand, well, she does seem to like Mr Pink and had even heard rumours that they were dating but what Alice noticed is that whenever her teacher saw the caretaker, her face would light up… well, most of the time if she wasn't cross with him.

And then, there was the parents-teacher conference. Something between the three of them changed. She didn't know what had happened but Mr Smith would put on those 'attack eyebrows' whenever he saw Mr Pink.

What made Alice nearly choked on her lunch one day was when she saw her English and Maths teacher talking, and the caretaker stood from a distance with a look. A look that could only be described as jealousy. Of course, it was the eyebrows that scared her a bit. Hence, the reason why she started coughing violently and all attention was diverted to her.

The student couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for the caretaker but one thing that confused her was that there was this one time she saw Miss Oswald and Mr Smith run into the caretaker shed and not coming out until an hour later. Alice had stayed in school to do some research in the library and she had a good view of the shed from where she was sitting.

So, when she saw them emerge an hour later, they looked dishevelled as they attempted to fix their hair and clothing. Her jaw dropped.

What she didn't know was that the Doctor and Clara and gone off on another one of their adventures after he persuaded her to follow him. An innocent little trip turned into something else when looked at in a different perspective.

The 12 year old student was confused. Wasn't Miss Oswald with Mr Pink or did they break up? She couldn't care less who her English teacher was hooking up with but if she had to choose sides, it would be the caretaker. He was a bit eccentric, sure but the caretaker had the same look her father would have whenever he saw her mother.

And then one day, the school received news that Mr Pink had been in a car accident.

Miss Oswald wasn't herself for a few weeks after she had taken a few days off. Not only that, but the caretaker was nowhere to be seen.

It wasn't until after Christmas Mr Smith returned and that Miss Oswald had gone back to her normal self. She was all smiles.

Another thing Alice noticed was that they were a lot closer than they were before. Even other students began to notice this. How they would hold each other's hands when they entered the snog shed, as some of the students have called it, and the eye sex as Courtney Woods had pointed out.

One fateful morning however, Alice bumped into Mr Smith. They stared at each other before she spoke, "Are you in love with Miss Oswald?"

The question had caused the Doctor raise his eyebrows. "What are you talking about, tiny human?"

Tiny human? She has a name! "My name is Alice and I'm a student from Miss Oswald's class and you didn't answer my question."

He merely shrugged before walking past her, a broom in one hand. "I don't know what you're talking about, nosy observer."

Alice followed the Doctor. "Yes, you do. I've seen the way you look at her since your first day of working here. You look at her like she's the 'one'. That's what my dad calls my mum."

Children and their wild imagination.

The caretaker furrowed his eyebrows. "Listen, Boris-"

"Alice!"

"Alice," he repeated, entering the snog shed and placing the broom against the wall. "You are only a human child. You probably imagined the whole thing. Isn't that what you people like to do - imagine things?"

That was when she noticed a blue police box in the back. "What's that?" she asked, pointing at the TARDIS, a sign that says 'Go away humans' hanging by the entrance.

"That's none of your concern."

"What's inside? Why is it in the snog shed?" the term slipped off her tongue before she was able to think. Oh, great.

The Doctor had his mouth agape when he heard the term. "Snog. Shed?"

Alice looked down at her feet, her face red. "Sorry, that's what people kept calling it since you and Miss Oswald are always in the shed."

"Well, she and I go here for a good reason," he explained.

Alice looked up. "So you and her go in here to snog?"

The Doctor frowned. "I'm not answering that."

"So you and Miss Oswald go here to snog inside the blue box? Kissing inside a snog box that's inside a snog box?"

At this point, the Doctor leaned against a table in the corner before covering his face with one hand. Why are children so observant and brutally honest these days?

"First of all," he began. "That blue box over there is not a snog box. It's called the TARDIS. It stands for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. It's a time machine that can take you anywhere in all of space and time."

The Doctor then approached the TARDIS and opened the doors, showing Alice what it looked like on the inside. "And…"

"It's bigger on the inside…" the girl whispered, amazed by what she was seeing. "Wow…"

He then closed the door. "See, it's not a snog box."

Alice eyed him suspiciously. "You still didn't answer my first question, Mr Smith."

"Well played."

He had to admit that the 12 year old girl standing in front of him is exceptionally bright and observant. No wonder Clara kept praising her.

"Thank you."

She waited for him to admit his feelings for Miss Oswald.

"Now then, before I tell you anything else, I need you to keep the TARDIS a secret. Not a lot of people know about it and I want to keep it that way," the Doctor said.

"I can do that."

"Good. Now, my relationship with Miss Oswald is none of your concern so to get to the point, I'm not going to answer your question of whether I'm in love with her or not," he explained, pushing Alice out of the snog shed. "Goodbye," was all he said before slamming the door in her face.

At least she got rid of her fear of his attack eyebrows. Besides, he wasn't as rude as she thought he would be.

Eventually, Alice Thompson or brutally honest observer (as the Doctor called her), one of Clara's best and well behaved students, got her question answered when she passed the snog shed one afternoon. From one of the dusty windows, she saw the caretaker and Miss Oswald kissing.

But the strange part was, they were covered in seaweed… must be the TARDIS.

* * *

I know I'm supposed to be working on the second chapter of Fate's Game but this just popped up in my head so I just had to write it!

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed the story :)


End file.
